Follow

Scenes from Nepal

Nepal, the "Roof of the World", is home to 27 million people, eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, and a distinct and rich culture. Gathered here are scenes from around Nepal, of its landscape, its residents, and multiple Hindu festivals and traditions, gathered over the past few years.

Mount Ama Dablam, which stands approximately 6,800 meters above sea level, behind Khumjung Village in Solukhumbu District, Nepal, on April 30, 2014. More than 4,000 climbers have reached the summit of Everest, the world's highest peak, since it was first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. In April, an avalanche killed 16 Nepali Sherpa guides who were fixing ropes and ferrying supplies for their foreign clients to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak. The accident - the deadliest in the history of Mount Everest - triggered a dispute between sherpa guides who wanted a climbing ban in honor of their colleagues and the Nepali government that refused to close the mountain. The sherpas staged a boycott, forcing hundreds of foreign climbers to call off their bids to climb Everest.#

A girl dressed in traditional attire participates in celebrations on the 79th birthday of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu on July 6, 2014. Nepal ceased issuing refugee papers to Tibetans in 1989 and recognizes Tibet to be a part of China.#

A water buffalo is kept in front of an idol of "Swet Bhairab" before it is sacrificed, during the Indra Jatra Festival in Kathmandu on September 27, 2012. The annual festival, named after Indra, the god of rain and heaven, is celebrated by worshiping, rejoicing, singing, dancing and feasting in Kathmandu Valley to mark the end of monsoon season.#

Nepalese Hindu women warm themselves before taking a holy bath in Salinadi River during the first day of Madhav Narayan Festival, in Sankhu, Nepal, on January 9, 2012. Hindu women observe a fast and pray to Goddess Swasthani for the longevity of their husbands during the festival.#

Devotees walk along the bridge at the premises of the Pashupatinath Temple, during the Bala Chaturdashi festival, in Kathmandu, on November 21, 2014. The festival is celebrated by the worshippers by lighting oil lamps and scattering seven types of grains known as "sat biu" honouring the departed along a route at the temple.#

Devotees gather to watch a chariot procession of Nepal's living goddess during the Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu on September 29, 2012. During the week-long festival, which marks the end of the monsoon season and celebrated by both Hindus and Buddhists, Nepal's living goddess is taken around the main parts of Kathmandu in a wooden chariot pulled by supporters.#

A devotee whose face is smeared with vermillion powder takes part in the "Sindoor Jatra" vermillion powder festival at Thimi, near Kathmandu, on April 15, 2014. The festival is celebrated by singing, dancing, playing traditional instruments, carrying chariots of various deities around the town, offering prayers and throwing vermilion powder over each other to mark the Nepalese New Year and the beginning of spring season in the country.#

A Nepalese farmer walks past rice paddy fields at Khokana village on the outskirts of Kathmandu on July 19, 2012. Rice accounts for almost 50 percent of cereal production in Nepal, which is particularly dependent on rainfall because less than one-third of its agricultural land is irrigated.#

A Newari woman, with her lips and face painted to depict a deity, sits inside a house before she takes part in a parade to celebrate the Yamari Puni festival in Kathmandu on December 17, 2013. The name "Yamari Puni" originates from Newari words, "ya" meaning like, "mari" meaning delicacy and "puni" meaning full moon. People from the Newar community celebrate the festival once a year, in the day and at night during a full moon, by performing traditional songs and dance.#

A Nepalese devotee walks surrounded by trees on his way to a temple to offer prayers on the occasion of Janai Purnima festival, or Sacred Thread festival, in Kavre district, some 46 kilometers (28 miles) east of capital Katmandu, Nepal, on August 13, 2011. On Janai Purnima Hindus take holy baths and perform their annual change of the Janai, a sacred cotton string worn around their chest or tied on the wrist, in the belief that it will protect and purify them.#

Cows graze in a field in front of Chosher village and cliffs on May 23, 2014 in Chosher, Nepal. Humans have lived in caves carved out of the Mustang cliffsides for thousands of years. Today, however, only a few of the caves are still inhabited, usually by the destitute or elderly.#

Pema Dolma, 78, cries after describing her loneliness and feelings of abandonment in her cliffside home on May 23, 2014 in Chosher, Nepal. Dolma says she has been abandoned by her children, and, since the death of her husband 6 years ago, she has had to live on a stipend from the former Prince of Lo and handouts from her neighbors.#

A Nepalese transgender is pictured while getting ready for a LGBT pride parade to mark the Gaijatra Festival, also known as the festival of cows, in Kathmandu on August 22, 2013. The parade was organized to demand equal rights in society, according to participants.#

Masked Nepalese dancers perform in the procession with the chariot, carrying "Kumari", the pre-pubescent girl worshiped as a living goddess, on the fourth day of the Indra Jatra festival at Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu on September 30, 2012.#

Uttara Saud, 14, sits inside a Chaupadi shed in the hills of Legudsen village in Achham District in western Nepal on February 16, 2014. Chaupadi is a tradition observed in parts of Nepal, which cuts women off from the rest of society when they are menstruating. Women who practice traditional chaupadi have to sleep in sheds or outbuildings while they are on their period, often with little protection from the elements. They are not allowed to enter houses or temples, use normal public water sources, take part in festivals or touch others during their menstruation, according to a United Nations field bulletin on the issue. Isolated in sheds that are frequently rickety and unhygienic, there have been cases of women dying while practicing chaupadi from illness, exposure, animal attacks or from fires lit in poorly ventilated spaces. Chaupadi was banned by Nepal's Supreme Court in 2005, but it is still common in the country's far and mid-western regions.#

A girl is covered by a shawl to protect her from rain while being carried by her mother after returning from Pashupatinath Temple during the Teej festival in Kathmandu on September 18, 2012. The three-day festival, commemorating the union of the Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, involves sumptuous feasts and rigid fasting. Hindu women pray for marital bliss, the well-being of their spouses and children, and the purification of their own bodies and souls during this period of religious fasting.#

Nepalese priests carry the idol of Rato (Red) Machindranath, Nepal's patron deity, on the last day of the Rato Machindranath chariot festival, also known as Bhoto Jatra, in Jwalakhel on the outskirts of Kathmandu on June 24, 2012. The event, celebrated every year to herald good monsoon rains for increased rice harvest, prosperity and good luck, is one of the main festivals observed by both the Buddhist and Hindu communities of Kathmandu.#

Everest Base Camp, seen from Crampon Point, the entrance into the Khumbu icefall below Mount Everest, following an avalanche that killed sixteen Nepalese sherpas in the Khumbu icefall, on April 18, 2014.#

A boy reacts as his sister splashes water from a stone spout near Bangalamukhi temple in Katmandu, Nepal, on August 28, 2012. There are dozens of centuries-old stone spouts that are still used to collect household water or as public bathing spots in the city.#

Most Recent

Time to take a look back at some of the most memorable events and images of 2016. Among the events covered in this essay: the U.S. presidential election; continued wars in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen; a new view of the planet Jupiter; and much more.

Time to take a look back at some of the most memorable events and images of 2016. Among the events covered in this essay: the Summer Olympics in Rio, the U.S. Republican and Democratic national conventions, the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, and much more.

Time to take a look back at some of the most memorable events and images of 2016. Among the events covered in this essay: earthquakes in Ecuador and Taiwan, the passing of entertainers David Bowie and Prince, and much more.

The past 12 months have been an eventful time for news stories, from the unpredictable and tumultuous U.S. presidential election, to continued war and terror and refugees fleeing to Europe, to a historic World Series win for the Chicago Cubs, and so much more.